Chapter 6

Sharri knocked on Kelly’s office door and opened the door enough to stick her head around.

“Kelly, Karen hasn’t come in this morning.” She said.

Kelly sighed heavily, “I know, I expect she stiffened up overnight and couldn’t make it out of bed.”

“I’m a little bit worried about her, it’s not like her not to ring in if she can’t work. I tried her phone and didn’t get any answer. Do you mind if I pop out for an hour and go check on her?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve got Julie in the kitchen with you today, I’m sure she can cope for an hour. But don’t dally girl it’s going to be a busy day with the produce market on today.”

“Thanks Kelly, I’ll be as quick as I can. Thanks again.”

Sharri drove quickly on the short drive to Karen’s caravan park, more because she didn’t want to let Kelly down than any real sense of urgency. She knew where Karen lived as she had dropped her home one day a couple of months back when Karen’s car was off the road with a puncture.

She pulled up beside of Karen’s car and climbed out. Some one had smashed the windscreen, the broken glass was mostly outside the car as if it had been punched out. Sharri’s blood went cold when she saw a blood covered kitchen knife sitting on the passenger seat.

Heart pounding Sharri ran up to the door of the caravan. Terrified at what she would find Sharri pushed open the door. Inside the trailer had been wrecked, blood splatters and bloody fingerprints were everywhere. Spotting Karen on the floor of the kitchen amongst the debris Sharri rushed over to her.

Tears streaming down her face and softly calling Karen’s name Sharri moved Karen’s blood caked hair from her face. She wasn’t certain but Sharri was sure she could hear a rattling breath from her friend. Sharri pressed her ear close to Karen’s mouth and could definitely hear her breathing with a sort of bubbling gasp.

Sharri rummaged through her bag and after a frustrated search found her mobile phone. She frantically dialled 999.

“Morning emergency services which service please.” came a static filled voice.

“Uh, Ambulance please, my friend has been stabbed or something, I think she’s dying!” Sharri cried down the phone.

The operator tried to calm Sharri down and told her to stay on the line and she would connect her. Moments later another calm voice quickly and efficiently got out of Sharri the address, who was injured and how and Sharri’s name.

It seemed like they had only just finished dealing with that when Sharri heard the first sirens.

The next hour was a blur for Sharri, four policemen arrived first followed a minute later by the ambulance crew.

Sharri was questioned by one of the policemen and a bit later an older man showed up who questioned Sharri again. She got distressed when Karen was put into an ambulance and she wasn’t allowed to accompany her.

The police were very apologetic when they finally decided Sharri hadn’t been involved in the attack but advised her to go home and change before going to the hospital.

Eventually they let Sharri go even offering her a lift home if she didn’t feel up to driving, which she declined.

Sitting in her car recovering her poise for a moment Sharri suddenly realised that she hadn’t let Kelly know what had happened.

She quickly rang Kelly and gave her the terrible news, told her that she was going home to get cleaned up then go to the hospital to see how Karen was. Kelly asked to be kept informed of course and Sharri promised she would let her know when she found out anything.

When Sharri got home she realised why they were questioning her so closely, she was covered in Karen’s blood from when she had held her injured friend. The police’s first thoughts must have been that she was responsible, in hindsight that was understandable but at the time it had really upset her.